I have a friend. A really good friend. You know, friends come and go but the really good friends are the ones who even though they are out of the picture you still know deep in your heart that they will surface again, or that you can call them and they will take your call. I have just such a friend. Her name is Holly. Holly is married to Roy. He's a good friend as well. You see, a little over a year ago I was visited by Holly, who travelled all the way out here to Whitby from her cozy home in mid town Toronto just to see my little paintings. She did purchase one after all but the visit was the beginning of a long and healthy friendship that has been rich in many ways. This past summer (summer of 2011) Holly and Roy invited this artist to spend a few days with them in their cottage on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park. While there we paddled together, walked together, talked together and shared our mutually strong love for this small body of water known to all as Canoe Lake. The heritage of the lake is quite unique from most others. You can read about that in a great book by Roy McGregor: http://www.amazon.ca/Canoe-Lake-Roy-MacGregor/dp/0771054602My connection to it comes from my understood appreciation for the works or the Group of Seven and Tom Thompson. Even without the prior knowledge of the Groups work at Algonquin and Tom Thompson's connection, I fell in love with it from years before when driving, hiking and moderate paddling around the "tourist" routes. Being there with Holly as my guide provided an in depth look and understanding into the lake, it's history, Camp Ahmek and Wapomeo, etc. Then, with all of that in mind you get a deeper and greater sense of the lake when you are sitting watching the sun go down on the water over the horizon on the far shore. The light burns through the tree tops and glitters on the water. No big boats on this water, just small ones and canoes. It's depth is awe inspiring! It's darkness holds secrets of many a lives lived and passed on here on the lake. The secrets of Tom Thompson's death which will never be known for certain lie within the shoreline of this great body of water. The art of one of Canada's greatest artists ended with the waters of Canoe Lake. The beginnings of so many other lives took root here along these wooded shores. And now it has it's grip on me. "An October Evening"

This is me at Holly and Roy's cottage painting sketch canvases of Canoe Lake in the summer of 2011.

This sketch above became this finished painting below

The Pine Tree Painter.

How did I become known as the Pine Tree Painter? You could say I paint a lot of Pine Trees, that would be true. I paint a lot of other things too, but Pine Trees, Spruce Trees, Birch and others seem to be a continuous string in what i do. I just like the way they stand there like a custodian of the land. or a greeter to nature. So, I continue down the path with the Pine Tree Painter name on my head, It's ok. Robert McAffee